The all-new Hollywood Reporter offers unprecedented access to the people, studios, networks and agencies that create the magic in Hollywood. Published weekly, the oversized format includes exceptional photography and rich features.
Michael Patrick King HBO Max greenlights a second season of the showrunner’s Sex and the City sequel And Just Like That, a sign of a solid streaming run for the first 10 episodes. Bob Chapek The Disney CEO’s effort to change course to denounce Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill was met with skepticism as questions grow about the exec’s leadership in crisis. Lil Durk The rapper’s 7220 album tops the Billboard 200, surpassing the Encanto soundtrack, with 164 million-plus on-demand streams in its debut, per Luminate data. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa The CW’s Riverdale, led by the showrunner, hit an all-time low on March 14, with just 230,000 same-day viewers for its return from a three-month hiatus. Showbiz Stocks $15.96 (+1.2%) LIONSGATE (LGFA) The indie studio and Starz owner saw its share…
In the summer of 1981, MGM coveted Rocky and James Bond. The studio, formed in 1924, had an eye for expansion. And it liked what it saw in the intellectual property of United Artists. UA, a Hollywood icon itself, was behind films like Some Like It Hot, Raging Bull, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and, yes, the Rocky movies and the Bond franchise. So MGM acquired UA, and its films, for some $380 million ($1.2 billion adjusted for inflation), with Frank Rosenfelt, MGM’s chairman, telling The Washington Post at the time that UA’s library would be critical as Hollywood transitioned “from the movie business to the entertainment software business.” Forty years later, those same titles are still being coveted to entertain through new technology. Except this time, the buyer…
Netflix is doing an about-face for its account-sharing subscribers — but not because the streamer is really that concerned about users being loose-lipped with their passwords. On March 16, Netflix said it was testing a new feature in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru that would allow primary account holders to add up to two users outside their households for a small fee. Like past supposed crackdowns on password sharing, it’s not clear whether this new fee structure will ultimately be rolled out wide, but it does serve as another low-lift opportunity for Netflix — whose subscriber growth has stalled in recent quarters — to boost its revenue. “I suspect that a crackdown will result in 5 percent subscriber growth, partially or fully offset by an increase in churn, and it…
JESSICA CHASTAIN • The Eyes of Tammy Faye The actress will swap one Tammy for another, playing Tammy Wynette in Paramount+ series George and Tammy. OLIVIA COLMAN • The Lost Daughter She’ll star in Marvel series Secret Invasion, Warner Bros.’ Wonka and Sam Mendes’ Searchlight film Empire of Light. PENÉLOPE CRUZ • Parallel Mothers The star will topline Spanish-language film On the Fringe for Amazon, the Italian-language drama L’immensità and Michael Mann’s Enzo Ferrari passion project. NICOLE KIDMAN • Being the Ricardos She’s got Robert Eggers and Focus’ The Northman in April, Amazon series Expats and the Aquaman sequel in 2023. KRISTEN STEWART • Spencer The star will direct drama The Chronology of Water, from Ridley Scott’s Scott Free, and will be seen in David Cronenberg’s thriller Crimes of the Future. JESSIE BUCKLEY • The…
The Dan Taberskihosted Pineapple Street Studios podcast 9/12, which traces life after Sept. 11, 2001, takes the top honor at the industry’s Ambie Awards, claiming podcast of the year. As the industry consolidates, Edison Research notes that podcast ad buyers can reach 50 percent of weekly listeners by buying spots across only four networks (SiriusXM, Spotify, iHeartRadio and NPR) — down from seven the year before. As Snoop Dogg, the new owner of Death Row Records, pulls the label’s music off streaming platforms to transform it into an “NFT label,” Spotify is hiring for a team focused on Web3 initiatives.…
OSCARS’ TV VIEWERSHIP COMPARED TO AVERAGE BOX OFFICE OF A BEST PICTURE NOMINEE Source: Nielsen, Box Office Mojo. Average domestic box office grosses are adjusted for inflation. While the pandemic didn’t help, viewership for the Oscars telecast, as well as the average box office returns of the films nominated for best picture, have been on a downward trend for years. Six of the past seven years of the telecasts on ABC saw a smaller audience than the year before. As for the box office, only the Academy Awards anchored by Avatar (2010) and Black Panther (2019) averaged $170 million or more per film in the post-Lord of the Rings era (2002-04), a figure achieved nine times in the preceding 14 years. Since 1986, there has been a strong positive correlation…
